The pseudo-second person point of view (interrupted sporadically by third person) used by Lahiri throughout Part Two was a mechanic that caught me off guard. Instead of focusing on the narrator as the main character, we see Kaushik entirely from Hema's perspective and vice versa for some chapters. It conveys a heightened sense of perspective that allowed for the pure emotion, which is the crux of this novel's appeal.
Personally, I enjoyed this method of story telling very much and the characters in this presentation felt like genuine friends with whom I have been acquainted with for a very long time. The time skips between chapters gives the illusion of having gone a great passage through time. As Hema and Kaushik address one another as "you" directly, it drives home the fact that their relationship is a peculiar one, having had three separate periods of their lives spent living in close proximity. Despite the fact that their relationship reaches fruition, so to speak, during the shortest of these three periods, they have a bond that was cemented through childhood and adulthood.
The informal second person address is a perfect way to reflect their informality. They lived under the same roof but were not siblings and spent time together with little regard of Hema's fiancé, Navin. The entire section could be interpreted as a loose conversation. But there was no avoiding the paths they each had led, however much they intersected. In the end, the paths terminated in a rather grim fashion.
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